Live Exorcism Airs on TV Friday Night

This undated image released by Destination America shows the St. Louis-area home that was the site of an exorcism in 1949. (Destination America via AP)

(Newser)
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This should get you in the Halloween mood: The cable channel Destination America says it will broadcast a live exorcism on the St. Louis residence that once housed the inspiration for the film The Exorcist at 9pm EDT on Friday. Catholic priests performed a series of exorcisms on a Maryland teenager known only as "Roland Doe," who was purported to be possessed by the devil, on the spot in 1949. But "no one has ever attempted to rid the lurking spirits and demons that inhabit this home—until now," the Discovery Communications-owned network says in a statement, per UPI. Not enough for you on the campiness level? "The worst-case scenario is that one of these entities will attach to someone," a TV producer tells the Chicago Tribune.

She says a team—including a clergyman and a psychic—will move through the house, which will be set up with six cameras, and rely on Twitter users to inform them what's going on in other rooms. "It is dangerous," the producer adds, and the Catholic archdiocese of St. Louis apparently agrees. A bishop says the event won't technically qualify as an exorcism since "no exorcism can take place without the authority of the local Roman Catholic ordinary." Plus, "any attempt to use the solemn Rite of Exorcism as entertainment exposes all participators to the danger of future hidden satanic attack." The network notes, however, that it's "enlisted a qualified and trained bishop to perform the actual exorcism," and everyone involved has signed a waiver. (Read more exorcism stories.)